Achievement of higher efficiency amorphous silicon-germanium solar cells using affinity gradients

Conference · Tue May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1984 · Conf. Rec. IEEE Photovoltaic Spec. Conf.; (United States)

OSTI ID:6025848

Wiedeman, S; Fagan, E A

Back-diffusion of photogenerated carriers, and subsequent recombination within or near the front contacting layer, has been identified as a major loss mechanism in a-Si cells in a variety of configurations. Back-diffusion can be suppressed by introducing localized regions of opposing electron or hole affinity gradient in the primary light-absorbing layer. Preliminary measurements on an a-(Si,Ge) cell in n-i-p configuration, in which the desired hole affinity gradient was produced by varying the average composition of the alloy over the first few hundred A of the i-layer, indicate a 29% improvement in efficiency with respect to the comparable ungraded alloy cell. The remedy appears to be generally applicable to other cell configurations and other low-mobility amorphous semiconducting material systems.

• Research Organization: Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware
• OSTI ID: 6025848
• Report Number(s): CONF-840561-
• Conference Information: Journal Name: Conf. Rec. IEEE Photovoltaic Spec. Conf.; (United States)
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

14 SOLAR ENERGY
140501* -- Solar Energy Conversion-- Photovoltaic Conversion
AMORPHOUS STATE
CHARGE CARRIERS
CONVERSION
DIFFUSION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
EFFICIENCY
ELEMENTS
ENERGY CONVERSION
EQUIPMENT
GERMANIUM
JUNCTIONS
LOSSES
MATERIALS
METALS
P-N JUNCTIONS
PERFORMANCE
PHOTOELECTRIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CELLS
PHOTOVOLTAIC CONVERSION
RECOMBINATION
SEMICONDUCTOR JUNCTIONS
SEMICONDUCTOR MATERIALS
SEMIMETALS
SILICON
SILICON SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR ABSORBERS
SOLAR CELLS
SOLAR EQUIPMENT